Beijing hails progress in corruption battle

BEIJING: China hailed its crackdown on corruption yesterday, saying “new progress and achievements” had led to a 13.3 percent increase in the number of people punished last year.

President Xi Jinping vowed to pursue corrupt high-flying “tigers” as well as lowly “flies” after taking over the reins of the ruling Communist Party in late 2012, raising expectations that he will tackle graft more forcefully than his predecessors.

Huang Shuxian, the vice secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection, said that 182,038 people were punished in 2013 for party discipline violations, a 13.3 percent increase on the year earlier.

The commission also investigated 31 senior officials, he said.

In percentage terms, the rise in punishments is only a slight gain over the increase in 2012, when the number grew 12.4 percent.

Among the tigers toppled since Xi’s rise is the former deputy head of China’s top planning agency, Liu Tienan. Reuters